Bird cherry virginian - features of cultivation and useful properties
The astringent taste of bird cherry berries is probably familiar to everyone. At least once we have all tasted the almost black small fruits of this tree and are accustomed to the fact that bird cherry is just like that. Well, and, of course, for many, spring is associated with the lush flowering of this tree, with the fragrance of its flowers and with a cold snap that usually begins during flowering.
Content:
- Differences of the virgin bird cherry from ordinary
- What is needed for growing
- Care features
- What are the benefits of the Virginia bird cherry
However, in nature there is also a virgin bird cherry, which has some distinctive features from common bird cherry.
Differences of the virgin bird cherry from ordinary
If the common bird cherry is tall trees, then its Virginia variety looks more like a bush or a small tree.
In addition, the color of the foliage and fruits of the virgin bird cherry is also different: the young foliage has a dark color, and the fruits, on the contrary, are lighter than the usual, reddish hue.
Such bird cherry looks very beautiful and decorative during the flowering period. If it is not so easy to see flowers on tall trees, then on a low shrub you can admire the abundant flowering of small white flowers collected in a brush. Moreover, the length of these brushes can be up to 15 centimeters! Therefore, on the Virginia bird cherry during the flowering period, even the foliage is not really visible, it is all hidden by fragrant inflorescences.
In shape, the leaves of the virgin bird cherry do not differ from ordinary foliage. Young leaves are dark in color, which gradually changes to dark green. And in the fall, the foliage on the bird cherry turns into a rich yellow color with a transition to red, which looks very attractive.
But the taste of its berries is much more pleasant than the taste of fruits collected from an ordinary bird cherry tree. They are sweet, practically without astringent taste and astringency.
What is needed for growing
In natural conditions in their homeland - in the countries of North America - the virgin bird cherry can most often be found growing along the river banks on soils rich in moisture and nutrients.
And in nature very often you can find very tall trees of this species of bird cherry (up to 15 meters), while in the culture bird cherry grows in the form of a bush and rarely reaches a height above 6-7 meters.
If you decide to grow the virgin bird cherry in the garden, then you will not need a lot of effort to care for it. This plant is not distinguished by a complex character, rather unpretentious.
Although this shrub belongs to shade-tolerant crops, it will not work to get tasty and ripe berries in the shade. Very often, the Virginia bird cherry, planted in shaded areas, either does not bloom at all, or bloom its very mediocre.
Therefore, to get a harvest, it is better to plant bird cherry trees in a well-lit place.
The advantage of the Virginia bird cherry is its resistance to diseases and pests... It is not often that trees are damaged by any insects, therefore, caring for them is minimized.
It is better to choose soils for planting loose and fertile, but you always need to remember that bird cherry in loose soil gives a very rapid growth of the root system. Moreover, young shoots appear quite quickly from the roots of adult bushes.
Care features
Since the Virginia bird cherry grows at a fairly rapid pace, giving an increase of about 50 cm per year, it is necessary to periodically carry out trimming bush to shape it.
It should only be remembered that fruit formation occurs on the growths of the last year, therefore, the branches must be cut carefully, otherwise there is a great chance of being left without a crop.
From the care measures, it will periodically need to loosen and dig up the soil, introduce root and foliar fertilizers, to carry out, in addition to the formative and sanitary pruning of branches.
This, in fact, is all that the Virginia bird cherry will need for successful growth and fruiting.
What are the benefits of the Virginia bird cherry
In addition to the aesthetic pleasure of contemplating the lush flowering of this bird cherry in the spring, its unusual red berries in the summer, beautiful yellowing leaves in the fall, the fruits and leaves of the bird cherry are very useful.
Dried berries and leaves are brewed in tea in equal proportions and used to relieve the course of bronchopulmonary diseases.
In addition, the beneficial properties of bird cherry fruits are known in the treatment of scurvy, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract due to their astringent effect.
In folk medicine, you can find recipes for decoctions of bark from young bird cherry plants, the use of which is recommended for coughing, bronchitis.
Pies stuffed with berries and ordinary, and, moreover, Virginia bird cherry, are very tasty due to their sweet and sour pleasant taste.